Posts By John Ressler

Ressler’s Rule #12:” He who controls the budget, controls the organization” It has been said that an army travels on its’ stomach but modern organizations travel on a highway of crisp dollar bills. How those dollars are apportioned and spent determines much of the effectiveness of the organization. Without regard to whether the organization isRead… Read more »

Ressler’s Rules #11 “… he not busy being born is busy dying” This particular rule comes from a Bob Dylan song: “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding”) and has been with me most of my adult life. DIGRESSION: The referenced song is (at least to me) one of the most perceptive, influential, and sardonic songsRead… Read more »

There is a great old George Harrison song, which is titled “If you don’t know where you are going, anyroad will get you there.” Presumably, there is a corollary “if you know where you are going make sureyou pick a road that gets you there”. Moving forward without any direction appears to be the preferredmethodRead… Read more »

Ressler’s Rules # 9: “It is OK to be stupid and it is OK to be arrogant, just don’t be both” Let me start this discussion with a bit of a digression – During the Vietnam War the phrase “Fragging” was coined to describe the practice of injuring or killing a superior officer who wasRead… Read more »

Ressler’s Rule # 8: You can’t always get what you want but if you try real hard you’ll get what you need (a nod to the “Rolling Stones”) Life tends to be a rocky and twisting road for most of us unless we were born “a fortunate son”. We don’t get the date with theRead… Read more »

It’s been awhile since I last posted but this is Rule #7 in my series of tips I learned in my 35 years as a federal manager and SES at IRS. Rest of the tips are at the bottom ——- Ressler’s Rules #7: Common Sense and Common Courtesy are uncommon attributes and therefore highly prized.Read… Read more »

Rule #6: “Most meetings contain a very high % of “Mental Masturbation” which can be significantly reduced by the chair creating and following and agenda” For 25 years peers, bosses, subordinates and my wife have tried to convince me to eliminate the term “mental masturbation” from my vocabulary. I continue to use it not forRead… Read more »

Rule number 5 is closely related to rule number 4 both having to do with empowering employees. While rule 4 has to with decision-making, rule 5 deals with written work products. All large organizations are document driven (they may be paperless but they still have electronic documents) which have a number of purposes, most importantlyRead… Read more »

Most individuals’ rise within an organization based on their proven track record; that is after all the basis of “merit promotion”. Therefore, most first line managers are selected based on their technical skill and often succeed in their first management position by exercising their superior technical knowledge rather then developing management skills. My own experienceRead… Read more »

In the past, most managers above a certain level had a secretary who performed a variety of tasks such as typing, taking dictation, controlling access and calendar, making travel arrangements, and a variety of other mundane tasks that improved the efficiency of the manager. In the best of situations the boss and secretary became aRead… Read more »